US President Donald Trump gave his "Complete and Total Endorsement" to Colombian presidential frontrunner Abelardo de la Espriella on Tuesday, just 18 days before a run-off election that pits the hard-right lawyer against leftist senator Ivan Cepeda. The endorsement, posted on Trump's Truth Social platform, cited De la Espriella's "tremendous accomplishments in life, and his political support for me, personally." Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded sharply: "When one country intervenes in the decisions of another country, freedom dies."
De la Espriella seized on the endorsement within hours. He promised relations with Washington would be "like never before" if he defeats Cepeda in the June 21 vote. The timing was precise.
Sunday's first round delivered a surprise: De la Espriella captured more than 43% of the vote, edging out Cepeda's 41%, according to official results reported by AFP. A fractured field of six candidates narrowed to two. Now the math favors the right.
Third-place finisher Paloma Valencia, a conservative who took roughly 16% of the vote, threw her support behind De la Espriella on Monday. That endorsement, combined with Trump's, consolidates the anti-left vote. Cepeda faces a steep climb.
He must win over centrists who rejected both extremes in the first round. The electoral arithmetic is unforgiving. De la Espriella is a millionaire lawyer.
He campaigns as a tough-on-crime outsider. His slogan casts him as the Colombian "Tiger." The law-and-order message echoes successful right-wing campaigns across Latin America — from Nayib Bukele in El Salvador to Javier Milei in Argentina. Voters exhausted by surging drug-related guerrilla violence rewarded that message on Sunday.
The violence is not abstract. Colombia's peace deal with the FARC in 2016 fractured armed groups into smaller, more chaotic factions. Cocaine production has surged.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported in 2024 that coca cultivation hit a record 230,000 hectares. Homicides linked to turf wars between the ELN, FARC dissidents, and Gulf Clan cartel have spiked in rural departments like Cauca and Norte de Santander. De la Espriella has promised a military crackdown.
Cepeda has promised dialogue. That divide defines the race. Cepeda, a longtime senator and human rights advocate, has pledged to continue Petro's legacy of negotiating with armed groups and reducing inequality through social spending.
Petro's "Total Peace" policy sought simultaneous talks with all illegal armed actors. Results were mixed. The ELN resumed kidnappings.
Dissident factions splintered further. De la Espriella calls the approach surrender. Trump's endorsement carries weight in Colombia, a major non-NATO ally and the third-largest recipient of US security aid after Israel and Egypt.
Washington has poured more than $12 billion into Plan Colombia and its successor programs since 2000, primarily for military and counter-narcotics operations. De la Espriella would likely receive a warmer reception at the White House than Petro did. That relationship was combustible.
Trump derided Petro as a "drug leader" during his first year back in office. He imposed sanctions on the Colombian leader. The two traded insults on social media over migration policy and Trump's campaign of deadly strikes on suspected drug boats operating from Latin American waters.
A February visit by Petro to the White House patched things up temporarily. The truce did not last. Petro's response to Tuesday's endorsement was swift. "I invite all of Colombia to vote in complete freedom," he wrote on X.
The subtext was clear: Trump's meddling is an affront to Colombian sovereignty. Petro's allies amplified the message. Cepeda's campaign released a statement calling the endorsement "foreign interference in our democracy."
The endorsement was not the only development Tuesday. A Bogota judge ordered De la Espriella to apologize within 48 hours for "purportedly sexist comments" made during a radio interview last month, The Guardian reported. During the interview, clips of which circulated widely on social media, De la Espriella showed a reporter what the court ruling described as "an intimate photo" with "explicit sexual innuendo."
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The reporter said on X that De la Espriella had shown her a "complete lack of respect." He replied with an apology, calling the incident "humour." The court was not amused. The ruling adds to a pattern. De la Espriella, a father of four with close ties to evangelical preachers, has faced criticism for a series of remarks deemed homophobic or sexist on the campaign trail.
Colombian media have catalogued at least seven such incidents since January. Here is what they are not telling you. The apology order is unlikely to dent his support.
Evangelical voters, a powerful bloc in Colombian politics, have rallied behind him precisely because of his cultural conservatism. His base sees the court ruling as persecution, not accountability. The math does not add up for Cepeda if that base holds.
Follow the leverage, not the rhetoric. Trump's endorsement signals to US investors and security hawks that a De la Espriella presidency would stabilize a relationship that frayed under Petro. Colombian bonds rose 1.2% on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg data.
The peso strengthened against the dollar. Markets are pricing in a De la Espriella victory. Colombia's election matters beyond its borders.
The country is a bellwether for Latin America's ideological pendulum. After a wave of leftist victories — Petro in Colombia, Lula in Brazil, Boric in Chile, Castillo in Peru — the region is swinging back. Bukele's security crackdown in El Salvador, wildly popular despite constitutional concerns, has become a template.
Milei's austerity in Argentina has not yet collapsed. De la Espriella would accelerate the rightward shift. The US interest is concrete.
Colombia produces roughly 60% of the world's cocaine, according to DEA estimates. Migration from Colombia to the US southern border has risen sharply since 2021, driven in part by violence and economic stagnation. Trump's endorsement is not sentimental.
It is transactional. De la Espriella has promised cooperation on counternarcotics and deportation flights. For Colombians, the choice between dialogue and crackdown on armed groups will determine security in rural areas for years.
For Washington, Bogota's next leader will either be a reliable partner on drug interdiction or a critic of US intervention. The campaign enters its final stretch with De la Espriella holding a structural advantage. Polls aggregated by Bogota-based firm Cifras & Conceptos show him leading Cepeda by 8 to 12 points in a head-to-head matchup.
Undecided voters hover around 15%. Cepeda needs nearly all of them. His path runs through urban centers.
Bogota, Medellin, and Cali delivered strong margins for Petro in 2022. Cepeda must replicate those numbers while peeling away moderate conservatives unsettled by De la Espriella's history of incendiary remarks. The apology order may help Cepeda with women voters.
It may also harden De la Espriella's support among men who see the ruling as political. Three debates are scheduled before June 21. The first is Thursday night in Bogota.
Cepeda will press De la Espriella on his comments about women and his ties to evangelical leaders who oppose LGBTQ rights. De la Espriella will hammer Cepeda on security and the economy. The contrast will be stark.
International observers are watching. The Organization of American States has deployed a monitoring mission. The Carter Center announced Tuesday it would send a team.
Colombia's electoral authority has warned against disinformation campaigns, which marred the 2022 presidential race. Social media platforms are under pressure to police false claims about candidates. Key Takeaways: - Trump's endorsement consolidates right-wing support behind De la Espriella, who led the first round with 43% to Cepeda's 41%. - A Bogota judge ordered De la Espriella to apologize for sexist comments, adding to a pattern of controversial remarks on the campaign trail. - The election is a referendum on security policy: military crackdown versus negotiated dialogue with armed groups.
The June 21 vote will be decisive. If De la Espriella wins, expect a rapid realignment with Washington. Military aid packages frozen under Petro will likely resume.
De la Espriella has promised to revisit extradition agreements with the US, which Petro restricted. A Cepeda victory, while less likely according to polls, would extend Petro's experiment with dialogue and social investment. Either outcome will ripple across a region watching Colombia's choice closely.
Key Takeaways
— Trump's endorsement consolidates right-wing support behind De la Espriella, who led the first round with 43% to Cepeda's 41%.
— A Bogota judge ordered De la Espriella to apologize for sexist comments, adding to a pattern of controversial remarks on the campaign trail.
— The election is a referendum on security policy: military crackdown versus negotiated dialogue with armed groups.
— Markets and US policymakers are already pricing in a De la Espriella victory, with Colombian bonds rising on Tuesday.
Source: The Guardian
